haha, I dunno about drug like effects but I can tell you that BCAA lower dopamine levels and possibly seratonin. From personal experience that equals to bad times
I wonder what the “length” effects of this is. I mean: I wonder if its a momentary dip (3-4 days) in the natrual mood producing chems in our body. I follow a but of LG and was using the BCAAs and then when I started reading this thread noticed that I too had been feeling “off” for no apparant reason and started thinking it was the BCAAs. But after like 3-4 days everything balanced out and Im a happy-go-lucky sonofabitch (no offense mom).
Big balls - do you have an update?
[quote]hipsr4runnin wrote:
I wonder what the “length” effects of this is. I mean: I wonder if its a momentary dip (3-4 days) in the natrual mood producing chems in our body. I follow a but of LG and was using the BCAAs and then when I started reading this thread noticed that I too had been feeling “off” for no apparant reason and started thinking it was the BCAAs. But after like 3-4 days everything balanced out and Im a happy-go-lucky sonofabitch (no offense mom).
Big balls - do you have an update? [/quote]
The guy is probably too depressed and anxious to give you an answer lol.
I have the same problem with BCAAs, leucine and EAAs. If I stop them for a couple of days my mood, energy levels and positive outlook always go up. A bit of a shame because I really liked the recovery and endurance boost from L-leucine. But tbh, looking back I think that laying those amino off is the best decision I made- I feel ‘alive’ again.
I’ve gone through periods of taking 30 + grams of BCAAs peri-workout and currently am actually with no anger or mood issues…
I’ve never heard of that, but I guess some are affected differently.
Maybe there is a correlation with sleep as well, based on recovery of chem levels at night. Just thinking out loud.
[quote]juverulez wrote:
haha, I dunno about drug like effects but I can tell you that BCAA lower dopamine levels and possibly seratonin. From personal experience that equals to bad times [/quote]
Wrong. You probably got anxiety/depression from low blood glucose levels. Leucine acts somewhat like insulin in terms of robbing your blood glucose. If you are lower carbs and megadose BCAA’s/leucine then there is a good possibility that you will go hypoglycemic, which has a side effect of jitters, anxiety, depression and low energy. Eat some carbs with it.
C6H(etc) - how do the peeps from leangains survive in your opinion then?
Since reading through this thread at first, I have been trying to induce the negative effects that have been mentioned on here, taking up to 80g/day of BCAAs without noticeable changes in mood, and (to address C6H13NO2’s theory) I have been doing quite close to 15g CHO per day.
All I have noticed is amazing recovery, harder, fuller muscles, and a depletion of my BCAA stores.
Maybe I’ll bump it up over 100g/day and see if I can’t get moody
What Brand do you guys use for powder version of BCAA’s? I understand a lot of brands taste bad but that does not matter to me.
I found “Modern BCAA -The Better BCAA” to be the best. Micronized amminos, 8:1:1 BCAA Ratio, 0 sugar or artifical flavor, 0 sugar or carbs, 35 servings 10g per serving. Most others contain soy so I tried to stay away from that. And its like $25
[quote]pushharder wrote:
I buy 'em by the 5 kilo bucket load.[/quote]
where?
[quote]C6H13NO2 wrote:
[quote]juverulez wrote:
haha, I dunno about drug like effects but I can tell you that BCAA lower dopamine levels and possibly seratonin. From personal experience that equals to bad times [/quote]
Wrong. You probably got anxiety/depression from low blood glucose levels. Leucine acts somewhat like insulin in terms of robbing your blood glucose. If you are lower carbs and megadose BCAA’s/leucine then there is a good possibility that you will go hypoglycemic, which has a side effect of jitters, anxiety, depression and low energy. Eat some carbs with it.[/quote]
Right I am afraid. I always had at least 30 grams of CHO per 5 grams of leucine. I know it is not hypo because I pulled some in the past (yeah, leucine megadosing) and it is nothing like it. I am glad that it works for some of you and tbh would love to figure out a way to throw all those aminos back in my regimen but it looks like I am gonna to save myself some $ and mood disorders at the same time. FWIW, I am not the only freak of nature with this type of reaction, there have been human studies proving that a mere dose of 10 grams of BCAA causes a drop in dopamine in healthy human subjects.
[quote]hipsr4runnin wrote:
C6H(etc) - how do the peeps from leangains survive in your opinion then?[/quote]
Are they megadosing it? I don’t know how much they use. I believe they eat carbs though at some point in the day? I’m talking about a keto or low carb diet.
[quote]juverulez wrote:
[quote]C6H13NO2 wrote:
[quote]juverulez wrote:
haha, I dunno about drug like effects but I can tell you that BCAA lower dopamine levels and possibly seratonin. From personal experience that equals to bad times [/quote]
Wrong. You probably got anxiety/depression from low blood glucose levels. Leucine acts somewhat like insulin in terms of robbing your blood glucose. If you are lower carbs and megadose BCAA’s/leucine then there is a good possibility that you will go hypoglycemic, which has a side effect of jitters, anxiety, depression and low energy. Eat some carbs with it.[/quote]
Right I am afraid. I always had at least 30 grams of CHO per 5 grams of leucine. I know it is not hypo because I pulled some in the past (yeah, leucine megadosing) and it is nothing like it. I am glad that it works for some of you and tbh would love to figure out a way to throw all those aminos back in my regimen but it looks like I am gonna to save myself some $ and mood disorders at the same time. FWIW, I am not the only freak of nature with this type of reaction, there have been human studies proving that a mere dose of 10 grams of BCAA causes a drop in dopamine in healthy human subjects.[/quote]
Interesting, friend. Do you know that it’s from the leucine for sure or could it be from the isoleucine or valine?
He’s not crazy:
Tryptophan is a precursor to serotonin and tyrosine for dopamine. These are both neutral amino acids, as are BCAAs. They compete for the same transport system. It seems that some people preferentially uptake leucine.
While the concentrations of the plasma amino acid pool are relatively stable in most people most of the time, the actual concentrations vary greatly between subjects due to genetic factors which affect the metabolism and transport (not just in the brain, but throughout the whole system).
[quote]Ty Carlson wrote:
Read Thibs and Waterbury’s thoughts in the BCAA article in the store…I think they were both megadosing BCAA’s with themselves or clients for a while.[/quote]
Right around the time Biotest started selling them.